In the past, having a label on a product was enough to increase the product’s credibility and sales, but with increased competition and new technology, even beautiful packaging is no longer a guarantee of benefits.
With the abundance of different products and services, the buyer wants to actively participate and make informed choices when purchasing them. He tries on the benefits of the offer, determines for himself how well it meets his needs, associates brand attributes with positive and negative experiences, and weighs cost against quality and brand awareness.
Manufacturers of goods and those who resell them do not invest in branding because of the high cost of branding agencies. They simply don’t understand what they’re paying for, don’t see the goals, and have no way to evaluate the outcome.
The purpose of this article is to share how to plan the branding process, make the creation process as transparent as possible, and fit your budget. And there should be no doubt that it is necessary to do it, because:
- A recognizable brand allows you to sell your product in higher volumes at a higher price.
- Market leaders are those companies that make significant investments in branding.
In this article you will learn how brand development is conducted. This article is a ready guide for a brand manager who is tasked with coming up with a brand name(naming), creating a logo, developing a packaging design, creating a corporate identity, presentation, business card, shelf talker, exhibition stand and other brand identification objects.
So, let’s start with a warm-up. Say out loud: “I am the project manager (I am the brand manager), and the responsibility for the final result lies solely with me.” Say it 5 times and proceed to warm up your creative vision and imagination.
Are you in the mood? Are you practiced? Let’s begin to explore the stages of brand building. Of course, after reading this article, you may think that everything is easy and simple, and everyone can create their own brand. However, to develop a brand, you need to have experience in project management, have knowledge of advertising, design and even psychology, and also – to have full information about the market situation where you plan to position your brand.
A branding project consists of the following major steps:
- Drafting, describing objectives and planning the project.
- Analysis of the current market situation (market research).
- Drafting and adjusting the terms of reference for the development of brand elements.
- Searching for an executor and controlling the fulfillment of the work.
- Brand promotion and monitoring of its effectiveness.
If you already have your own brand, but it is losing its popularity and relevance, and is losing its position in the market and its consumers, you need to rebrand. Creating a new brand is a costly endeavor, but international practice shows that a successful rebranding can breathe a second life into a brand. So don’t be in a hurry to immediately chop everything down to the root and start all over again.
Let’s look at each stage of brand design more specifically and in detail.
STEP 1: Drafting, outlining objectives and planning a brand development project
Planning is the key to the success of your project. Without a clear and well thought out order of action, you will not be able to realize your project in a quality manner without missing anything.
The main task of a plan is to organize your actions, establish a timeline and sequence of tasks, set a budget and a way to measure the achievement of goals.
At this stage it is necessary to define, or better to spell out: the purpose of brand creation (the purpose should correspond to the mission of the organization), the place of the brand in the architecture of other brands or trademarks of the enterprise, the desired characteristics of the brand (qualities, life cycle, competitive advantages), to formulate measurable parameters of the brand, which will be used to evaluate its effectiveness in the future.
It is also necessary to analyze the available resources of the company (financial, labor, information), to plan the terms of the project, to designate the company’s budget for the project. If more than one person will be involved in the project, ateam of people responsible for the project should be identified.
Thus, your plan should include the following items:
- Objectives.
- Desired brand characteristics, its measurable performance.
- List of work to be performed (for convenience, the work should be divided into small components).
- Deadlines for each individual phase (in addition to deadlines, specify project milestones).
- Persons responsible for the implementation of the project.
- Resources (available, needed, and their sources).
- Budget.
- Possible risks and force majeure.
Your plan may look however you want it to look, but the information in it should be clear and easy to understand. The Microsoft Project program is designed for project management.
An example of a website development project using Microsoft Project program:
There are many different software products used in the planning process, but Microsoft Project is the most optimal. Especially for newbies. Even if you have not encountered this program before, you can quickly learn it, as it is very easy to work in it. All you need to do is watch just a couple of video tutorials:
- https://www.microsoftproject.ru/articles.phtml?aid=165
- https://www.pmprofy.ru/content/rus/204/2043-article.asp
Microsoft Project allows you to develop calendar plans (up to 10,000 tasks), track project events and progress, analyze possible project development scenarios, and much more.
STEP 2: Analyzing the current situation and market research
Once you have made a brand development plan you need to analyze the current market situation. This stage can be divided into several sub-stages:
- Collecting and analyzing brand information;
- competitor analysis;
- target audience analysis.
2.1 Gathering brand information involves determining the need for a brand, identifying its price segment and its markets (regional, national or international). It is also necessary to indicate how long the brand will be present on the market, andwhether it is characterized byseasonality.
If a company has a current
slogan and communications
analyze them (whether they are also suitable for the brand or whether there is a need to create them). Another important point is to define the marketing objectives that the brand has for a period of one to three years (market share, increasing sales, creating and improving the company’s image, etc.).
As a rule, all this information is systematized in abrief (a brief is a short form in which the main parameters of the future project are spelled out). By completing the brief, you will be able to comprehensively review and analyze all available information.
Examples of briefs:
2.2 The next step is to analyzecompetitors. The biggest mistake is thinking that you have no or few competitors and don’t pay attention to them. Alas, everyone has competitors, and the degree of rivalry increases daily. Therefore, you first need to identify your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses(conduct a SWOT analysis). It must be said that no one will do it better than you yourself! Remember, this is an ongoing process and you should not be fooled into thinking you already know everything.
2.3 Atthe stage of target audience analysis(study of consumer preferences) it is necessary to clearly describe your target audience (age, gender, places of shopping), as well as to find out what the buyer would like, what needs he has unmet. The main problem here is that the consumer never knows exactly what they want. Therefore, you need to be a subtle psychologist to anticipate the consumer’s reaction to your idea. It is also important to understand what motivates consumers to make a purchase.
All research can be conducted using several methods: field research (primary data method) and desk research (secondary data method). The difference between the two methods is that desk research utilizes previously collected and available information, while field research collects data from scratch for specific purposes. In addition,marketing research can be quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative methods allow you to get accurate numerical data, as a rule, it is statistical information, on the basis of which you can make various calculations and forecasts. With the help of qualitative methods it is possible to determine the real needs of consumers, their attitude to the product, motives for purchase, and much more. Based on this data, you can learn how to improve the product, what to emphasize in the advertising campaign, what should be changed in the product to attract more customers, etc.
Desk research offers a number of advantages over field research: it is quicker to conduct, multiple sources of information, and lower financial and labor costs. However, it isalways necessary to make sure that the information is always “fresh” and up-to-date.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.especially if there have been questions and issues similar to yours raised before. The best solution is to use the information that is available and already collected.If you are not sure that you can handle this task, contact professionals (for example, a branding or marketing agency).
Marketers of branding agency KOLORO will also qualitatively conduct for you all the necessary research and give you a report in which all the information will be presented in a clear and simple style of presentation, and everything will be “laid out on its own shelves” .
Only constant monitoring and analysis of brand performance, market situation, competitive environment and consumers, can guarantee your brand a long-term and successful stay in the market.
STEP 3: Drafting the Terms of Reference (ToR) for brand development
The third stage is probably the most capacious and one of the most responsible stages on the way to developing a new design. After all, it is on how competently, correctly, accurately and clearly you compose the terms of reference, will depend on the final result that you get from the performer of this assignment, the timing of its implementation and the success of the project.
To develop a brand, you will most likely need to draft several terms of reference, as a brand includes several elements: the verbal component (naming, slogan, legend, advertising text) and the visual image (logo, corporate identity, packaging, promotional materials). Some of the elements can be defined immediately (e.g., the firm’s tagline will match the brand slogan), and some will need to be developed.
How do I write the terms of reference?
The terms of reference are written by the project manager. No one will describe the ideas, goals, principles and activities of your company better than you, such a description should be as clear as possible and presented in the form of a general story about the company.
The ideal technical task is one that narrows the scope for creativity as much as possible, and puts the work of the performer in the category of routine. In this case, and the performer is easier to find, and his fee will be significantly lower.
The performer should not plan, think and make things up. It is his duty to provide a stipulated number of options that maximize the differences between them.
It is very difficult to write a perfect TOR from the first time, so it is necessary to make a sequence so that you have the opportunity to change and supplement the terms of reference after the receipt of new information, while not dooming the performer to unnecessary work. Don’t be upset if it takes you longer to write the TOR than it takes any contractor to do their part of the job. That’s quite normal.
What do the terms of reference consist of?
The structure of the terms of reference contains the following sections:
- Project Title and Purpose.The title of the project can be tentative, but should be meaningful and reflect the overall goal of the project. It is very important to specify in the ToR the goals and objectives to be solved within the project (why the project is needed, its short-term and long-term goals, general purpose).
- Description of the customer’s company.It is necessary to specify the basic information about the company: mission, scope of activity, brand portfolio, list of main competitors, competitive advantages of the company itself and unique selling proposition (USP), traditions of presentation of graphic information (logos, trademarks, color scheme) and description of existing communications and brand elements.
- Description of the market situation of the brand to be developed.The terms of reference should specify the price category of the brand, give general information about the target audience and create a description of the existing brand, in case of rebranding.
- References – examples of work that you like, in the context of this project.
- Requirements – here you should describe all functional and technical requirements for the project. As well as graphic, textual requirements, wishes regarding the color scheme, choice of style, fonts, characters and requirements for the creation of the overall image of the project. Here you can also list what you consider to be successful similar projects so that the Executive can better understand what you are looking for.
- List of materials to be provided for use in the project – in addition to describing the requirements for the project, you can help the contractor by providing your vision of the project – sketches, graphics and text materials.
- Project start and end dates. Performer’s Fee.
Examples of Terms of Reference:
STEP 4: Finding an executor and controlling the execution of the work
The contractor can do just one phase of the work, can do several items, or take on the entire project. There are several options for selecting a contractor, and you can choose any one that suits you:
- Freelancing. Freelancers are people who work for themselves and usually do all the work from home.
- Co-working. This is a variant in which several workers gather and work in the same room, in different directions and independently of each other. At the same time, co-working space participants (which are most often freelancers) communicate with each other, discuss projects and help each other. Co-working is something in between freelancing at home and renting an office for a firm.
- Working with a branding agency. Branding agencies have at their disposal specialists and professionals in various fields of activity (branding, marketing, design, psychology, etc.), so you can be sure that your assignment will be performed at the highest level and comprehensive quality.
The more performers you have, the more choices you will have. There may be a situation in which a certain item of work will be performed by several performers at once. However, you should not forget that the more employees who do not see each other, the more chances of losing the overall concept of the project. Therefore, as the number of performers increases, so does your workload and your responsibility as a project coordinator.
Keep in mind, if you have made the final decision that the task of branding, design, naming will be performed by a hired person, from that moment you are forbidden to perform any part of the project yourself! After all, the more personal effort spent on a concept, the harder it is to abandon it. And you forgive yourself for a lot of things, including laziness and late deadlines. Your ability to complete tasks independently, can be used to set the right work pace and quality bar for the performer.
The search for an executor follows the following algorithm:
- We write a high-quality Terms of Reference for the contractor, specifying the main objectives of the project and your vision of requirements and preferences (see above for the main requirements for the TOR and its structure).
- Place an ad online or analyze competitor companies.
- Getting feedback on the project from the implementers.
- We consider candidates, study their portfolios and choose an executor.
How do you choose a performer? Working with a freelancer or a branding agency?
So, you’ve started looking for a contractor and you’ve come across the fact that there are several people willing to take on the project, or better yet – there are a lot of them. What’s the next step?
How to choose the “right” contractor? Let’s look at the main criteria for choosing a freelancer or branding agency, as well as some advantages and disadvantages of working with them.
Working with a freelancer who is a well-known person is as reliable as working with a well-known branding agency. It all depends on the professionalism of the freelancer and your ability to interact with the performer.
The main advantage of working with a freelancer is price flexibility. The average price level for freelancer services is an order of magnitude lower than the prices for agency services. In addition, there is a huge range of prices on the freelance market. Even with a modest budget you can always find a performer who will take on your project. However, the quality of the work done, with minimal budgets and lack of experience you no one can guarantee in advance.
Working with a freelancer carries certain risks, for example, such as failing to meet deadlines. Cases when false freelancers take an advance payment for work, and then disappear without a trace, having changed the number of an ICQ/Skype/phone and nickname on freelance portals have also become not uncommon. Working with a freelancer requires a high level of self-organization and a lot of time.
In addition, the disadvantage of working with freelancing is the lack of the ability to control the process of completing the technical assignment. You will only receive the final result of the work done, and you can only hope that the performer understood your idea correctly and the work is done qualitatively and professionally.
The main criterion for choosing a freelancer is their portfolio. There is fierce competition in the world of freelancing, so only true masters of their craft are in business for the long haul here. A portfolio is the main indicator of a designer’s skill and creativity. It is not recommended to work with freelancers who have a full-time job, as project deadlines can be significantly stretched. Also pay attention to how many reviews the freelancer has, look at the information about those who have left a review, the more recent the review, the less believable it is, and is more likely to be a publicity stunt.
Working with a professional branding agency involves a lot of expense. But the high cost of branding agency services is probably the only disadvantage in this case. When you cooperate with an agency, not just one specialist works on your project, but a whole team of professionals in marketing, design, psychology, management, etc.
From a branding agency you get guarantees of quality work, hitting deadlines, and also do not risk being cheated, as in the case of freelancers.Why? Because the branding agency will offer you to conclude a contract, in which you can discuss all the additional guarantees and conditions.
An important advantage of working with an agency is a wide range of services provided. Creating a brand by an agency implies the work of a team of specialists, the functions of which are practically impossible for one person to fulfill adequately. A branding agency will be able to create a brand taking into account all the factors that may affect it in the future. The agency constantly accompanies the brand and helps it to establish itself in the market. In addition, a branding agency, unlike a freelancer, can develop other services for you in a complex: naming, slogan, legend, advertising text, logo, corporate identity, packaging design, advertising design.
When choosing a branding agency, you need to pay attention to the following:
- Agency Website. How well the agency’s site is made, how much idea, effort and time is invested in it – all this characterizes the agency as an executor.
- Service. By one phone conversation with the agency manager you can understand how much the agency specialists know their business. If the manager can convey all the information in a quality and concise manner, the agency can also easily establish effective communications with your consumers as well.
- Commercial proposal, portfolio, presentation, brief, etc. – will indicate the existence of the agency’s corporate identity and positioning.
- Reviews and the number of mentions of the company on the internet – will show how the company does its own promotion.
Where to look for a performer?
Of course, the easiest way to find a contractor (whether it’s a freelancer or a branding agency)is online. And, as a rule, the main criterion for selecting an executor is the allocated budget for project implementation.
It’s important Define the project objectives first and then the budget, not the other way around. If the budget of the project is small, the performer should look for on freelance portals, because the services of freelancers are many times cheaper than those of branding agencies.
The approximate cost of freelancers and agencies:\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
| \Type of work. | \Freelance. | \A branding agency. |
| \Logo design. | \From $25 to $300. | \From 1,000 to 5,000 bucks. |
| \Corporate identity development. | \From 100 to 400. | \From 1,500 to 20,000 U.S. dollars. |
| \Booklet design. | \That’s 30 bucks a pop. | \That’s 200 bucks. |
| \Web site design. | \From 30 to 150 bucks. | \From 1,000 to 3,000 bucks. |
| \Writing the program code for the site. | \From 50 to 300 bucks. | \From 1,000 to 2,000 U.S. dollars. |
| \Article. | \3 to 10 cents. | \That’s 20 bucks a pop. |
| \Naming. | \From 40 to 200 bucks. | \From 500 to 5,000 bucks. |
| \Packaging design. | \From 100 to 2,000 U.S. dollars. | \From 1,000 to 100,000 U.S. dollars. |
But freelance professionals and highly specialized agencies (either those with a large number of awards or leaders in their field) can charge many times the cost of the above.
If you are burdened with marketing plans and a lot of competitors and still have a big enough budget, an agency is the one to work with. Working with an agency, in any case, is beneficial though even if only to gain extensive marketing (and not only) knowledge and experience for further independent brand management.
Thus, we can conclude that it is profitable to work with both freelancers and branding agencies, however, when cooperating with a freelancer you take a great risk and no one can guarantee you quality work.
Control over the fulfillment of the ToR
It is important to supervise the assignment and to conduct a performance evaluation after the assignment is completed.
If you have properly drafted the terms of reference (as described above, it should be broken down into several small components and for each of them to determine the deadlines), then you will be able to step-by-step and effectively control the implementation of the TOR, without losing sight of any details.
You will need constant access to the Internet and the ability to spend a lot of time setting and adjusting the task, as well as communicating with the performers to evaluate the results of the work.
Avoid subjective personal opinion when making decisions along the way. Do not make independent decisions or decisions based on advice from the incumbent. Optimal would be the opinion of a group of disinterested persons, i.e. conducting a small survey, perhaps afocus group survey. If it is not possible to conduct focus groups every time, or if frequent surveys are required, it is necessary to have a group of remote reviewers (both representatives of the target audience and specialists in various industries).
Don’t forget the original objectives, compare the results with your goals to see how well you have achieved them. Evaluate how well the completed project expresses your company’s message and communication message. At the same time, donot forget to evaluate the amount of time spent and budget fulfillment – these are the determining indicators of the effectiveness of the work done.
Of course, the real effectiveness of the technical assignment will show the popularity of the brand, the reaction of the target audience, sales volumes, changes in market positions, etc.
In the process of creating the brand and its design elements, the third and fourth steps will be repeated all the time. If you need to design multiple brand elements (name, logo, slogan, font, color schemes, packaging design, label design, corporate identity, brandbook, guidebook or other), you need to create your own terms of reference for each brand element. This means that you need to devote enough time to make a good terms of reference, to analyze and select the contractor, and to allocate time to monitor the work done.
